In the new documentary, Meet The Donors: Does Money Talk?, which airs tonight on HBO, filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi introduces viewers to the behind-the-scenes players, both Republican and Democrat, who are spending billions of dollars to influence the outcome of the next presidential election. The acclaimed writer and director (and the daughter of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi) uncovers who these shadowy backers are and what it is exactly that their fortunes are buying. Here, Pelosi shares what she learned about campaign finance over the course of making her film.

Filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi

Janet Van Ham/HBO

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Bernie Sanders started the revolution by calling out "the billionaire class" who are "controlling our corrupt campaign finance system." Then Donald Trump tapped into the populist rage by talking about "this broken system," and the voters ate it up. So Hillary Clinton was forced to jump on the bandwagon, promising "to get the corrupt money out of politics." Perhaps the one thing that all citizens are united in is the belief that there is just way too much money in our democracy.

This year the price tag for the presidency is projected to be at least three billion dollars. So, who are the sugar daddies pouring millions into our democracy—and what do they want in exchange for their donations?

There are about 100 families in America who will fund the general election. If you want to know who they are, you can go to the Federal Elections Commission website and collect their names and addresses. Like a trip around the Monopoly board, Hillary and Donald have to make the trip to meet the donors to pick up the checks they need to stay in the game.

This is nothing new. Big money has always been at the core of our democracy. But when you look at the list of mega-donors bankrolling these campaigns, it is important to make the distinction between the ideological donors and the transactional donors. Ideological donors are the true believers who write that big check because they believe in someone or something. As hard as this may be to believe, there are billionaires who give millions of dollars to candidates and don't ask for or expect anything in return.

There are about 100 families in America who will fund the general election.​

Transactional donors, on the other hand, are the lobbyists who represent corporations who make contributions to get something concrete in exchange—they will ask the candidate for something that is in their own self-interest. These are the toxic offenders who are actively undermining the public interest.

How can we push them out so that the will of the people will be protected? Well, to the voters go the spoils, but only half the country even votes. So if we made voting mandatory—if we made citizens fulfill their civic duty—then the American people would determine their own fate and all that money wouldn't matter.